Pen or pencil holder.



N0. 68!,305. Pa-tented Aug. 27, I901. S. FOBBESTER.

PEN 0B PENCIL HOLDEBY (Applicatiun filed June 8, 1900.)

(No Model.)

- INVENTOR f I a WITH E8555 m: ionms PETERS col. vnotnuma, wnsnmg'ron. ua

Mrs rnrns ATENT Enron.

PEN OR PENCIL HOLDER.

SPEGIFICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 681,305, dated August27, 1901.

Application filed June 8, 1900- Serial No. 19,538. (No model.)

To 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL FORRESTER, of Allegheny, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Pencil or Pen Holders, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 showsin plan View one of my improved pencil-holders with some of its pencils.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectionon the line III III of Figs. 1 and 2. The same devices may be used forpenholders.

It is the practice in many of the public schools to supply lead-pencilsto the pupils and at the end of the school-hours to gather up thepencils in a box, from which they are again distributed on the followingmorning. There is no assurance, however, that any pupil will receive thesame pencil on two successive days, and the habit which many childrenhave of biting their pencils renders this school practice a means bywhich the germs of disease can be communicated from one pupil toanother. It is the purpose of my invention to prevent this possibilityand to provide a convenient, cleanly, and simple apparatus by which thedistribution of pencils to the proper persons can be effected.Simplicity of the device and its strength are characteristics ofimportance, because the devices are handled generally by children, andunless the device is strong and simple to manipulate it would soon bedestroyed or put out of order.

I employ a series of pencil-holding bars or racks adapted to contain anumber of pencilssay nine-and I employ one of these bars for each of thegroups of pupils into which the school is divided by place of sitting orotherwise. In the drawings I show a pencilholder intended for Group 2,and it is therefore marked with the numeral 2, as shown at a in Fig. 1,or by some other appropriate letter or symbol. Each of the pencils whichis placed in the holder is also marked with a number at b, indicatingthe group to which the pencil belongs, and a second number at 0,indicating the number of the pencils in the group, the latter numbersextending from 1 to 9. When the pencils are distributed in them0rning,each pupil receives a pencil having a certain numbercorresponding to the number and group to which he belongs, and at theend of the school-hours, when the pencils are again collected, eachpencil is placed by the person collecting them in the proper socket ofthe proper holder, the socket being indicated by the number on thepencil and on the holder. In this way each pupil receives the samepencil every day, and all of the objections which I have'mentioned aboveand which are incident to the indiscriminate system of distributioncommon at present are avoided.

In the drawings, d represents the holder which I deem to be of thepreferable con struction, made of a bar of wood or other suitablematerial, having a series of holes e extending through itfrom side toside and con stituting sockets for the pencils. These holes are madelarger than the diameter of the pencils, and in order to hold thepencils therein I employ friction-pieces constituted, preferably, byspring-tongues made of strips of spring metal bent into angular form, aportion f fitting against the side of the bar d, preferablyinaslightly-countersunkseat, and the portions f thereof extending at anincli nation within the hole. The part f is held to the bar bya pin g,which extends through the bar and may be upset at the other end 9'. Thefree end of this friction device being contained within the hole orsocketcis concealed or covered, so that it is not apt to be brokenaccidentally or to be tampered with. When the pencil is pushed into thesocket, the friction piece yields and presses frictionally against thepencil, holding it with all needed security.

Within the scope of my invention as defined in the claim changes may bemade in the form and construction of the parts of my improved device,since What I claim is- A pencil or pen holder consisting of a bar havinga series of sockets and a spring-tongue extendingin each of saidsockets, said spring tongue being fixed to the bar and having free endsextending within the sockets; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

SAMUEL FORRESTER.

Witnesses:

H. M. CORWIN, T. M. REDMAN.

